He summoned a footman.
“Fetch two other footmen, my valet, the housekeeper, and the maid, Sarah,” he instructed, his mind whirling. “Tell them to stop whatever they are doing and to come to meat once.”
Within moments, the staff was at his side. All of them looked patient, if faintly curious—except Sarah. Sarah lookedterrified.
Ezra feared he was not about to offer her any comfort.
He turned first to the three footmen. Xander had given Ezra Dugley’s London address, and while Ezra knew deep down that he would not find the man there, he wasn’t foolish enough to leave the country before checking his own backyard.
“Go to this address,” he directed. “Find out anything you can about an occupant, likely former occupant, Viscount Peter Dugley.”
At the viscount’s name, Sarah’s wan face went even paler. For a moment, Ezra feared she would faint, but she was made of sturdy stuff. She clasped her one good hand on the back of a chair and stood, resolute, not making so much as a peep.
“Do whatever it takes to get information about him. Use my name. Bribe anyone who can be bribed. Make whatever promises you need. One of you should stop at my solicitor’s along the way, in case that helps things along.” The solicitor was the kind of wily fellow who always knew what buttons to press. Ezra liked that in a man, assuming the man was on his side. “In particular, find out what you can about any residences the man maintains in Belgium and bring that information to me immediately. I need the first report within the hour.”
“We will see it done, Your Grace,” said the most senior of the trio before he ushered his companions out the door.
This left Sarah, his valet, and the housekeeper. He turned to the older woman first.
“Go to Iris and her governess. Take a maid to help you pack their bags. They will be gone for a few weeks, but they are only going over to my cousins—the Duke and Duchess of Nighthall—so speed is more important than anything else. They can send for something if they forget it.” He paused. “And the dog. Ready the dog, too.”
He would apologize to Hugh later, after his scads of children inevitably demanded a dog of their own.
The housekeeper left with a brisk nod. Ezra issued similar orders to his valet, who would be preparing Ezra’s own things for the trip abroad.
That left Sarah.
“What about me?” she asked, voice scarcely above a whisper.
“You are going to Blackhall, too,” he told her.
Her eyes were wide in her face. “But I am just a maid!”
He laid a hand over hers, which was too familiar for an employer and employee, but knowing what she was to Letitia made Ezra feel brotherly toward Sarah.
“You are important to Letty,” he said. “I will not risk your safety. We don’t know what Dugley has planned, so before I can go, I need to know that you are safe, too.”
Sarah still looked nigh terrified, but she nodded, then rushed off to pack her own things.
Within hours, Ezra confirmed that Dugley had not been seen in London for nearly a week. The duke had taken Iris, Sarah, Hermes, and a very confused governess to Hugh and Persephone’s, and secured his cousin’s grim-faced promise to write to Xander to let him know Ezra was coming.
“Thank you,” Ezra said, heartfelt.
Hugh nodded, as if it was not even worth mentioning.
“Say what you will about the bloody Lightholders,” he said with bleak humor. “But we know how to rally the goddamned hounds.”
And it was with these words—bearing the promise that, despite all the years he had turned his back on his family, they would not now turn their backs on him—that Ezra boarded a ship bound for France, then onward to Belgium.
He was going to find his girl. And then, come hell or high water, he was going to bring her home.
CHAPTER 24
Letitia hated this stupid room.
It wasn’t squalid. It was quite comfortable, actually, if rather boring. There was a bed with a decent pillow and a soft blanket—a fireplace, though it was warm enough that it had not been lit. There was an old, woven chair that offered neither comfort nor visual interest. There was a window, made of tiny panes of glass, that looked out onto another brick wall. A chamber pot was tucked discreetly under the bed.
And that was it.
